SPACE: 1999 Season 2 Coming To Blu-Ray! (1 Viewer)

[Kevin L McCorry]

We had a S2 release to begin with because Scott Bosco (A&E's consultant) persevered and got the job done, out of love for the series as a whole, consideration for the fan base as a whole, and sheer professionalism. The people in England who have the connections with Granada/Network (as well as fan leadership in general) have an unending, non-abiding, absolute hatred for S2. It overrides everything. From humanity to consideration of others to professionalism. I won't mention names, but many of them can be found to have association with the S1 releases on DVD in '05 and BD in '10. One individual in particular was quite heavily involved with the remastering of The Persuaders awhile back, and Scott Bosco had to fight him tooth and nail to get many of the extras on the Space: 1999 DVDs this side of the Atlantic. I've clashed with these people many times on another forum. Take it from me. These people are arrogantly determined to see Space: 1999 on the shelf as a 1-season-only series. They've got their wish. In the U.K., certainly. And as regards BD everywhere, too. I can't see A&E going it alone, and their non-affirmative reply above is indicative of that.
We had Network twice declare S2 as coming (on DVD in '07 and now on BD) and then cancel plans. To use a Space: 1999 line, it's an ill wind that carries the stink of fish.

 

[Kevin EK]

I don't know that Network ever declared that Series Two was being prepped for Blu-ray. I'm the one who mistakenly said that here, thinking that A&E must have been working with them.

All we've heard is that A&E is prepping it, and that it's going to take a while. Given that it took a while to do the Series One set, and that was with existing HD masters and existing extras from the 2005 set, I wouldn't be surprised if this took until late 2012 or longer.

 

[Alstrup]

Ole Alstrup here from ITC-DVD at Yahoo Forums. I just received an email update about new postings in this thread.
Back in April of this year I did an hour long audio interview with the Director of Operations at ITV Studios Global Entertainment and the chief restoration archivist of ITV Studios Film Services, who oversaw the original film inspection and elements research and restoration of both SPACE:1999 Year 1 & 2. The interview was about the background and details about the FILM aspect restoration of SPACE:1999.
Actually I had wanted to do this interview for years, and had prepared most of the questions back in 2005, but my contact somehow wasnt able to facilitate the connection with them back then.
Because of the Year 1 Blu-ray releases, I decided to contact them directly and they liked the material I had prepared, so they granted this exclusive interview. I had to wait for some months to get it, due to their busy schedules. A lot of interesting info came up, also about Year 2.
Due to a tragedy in my immediate family which happened shortly after, I did not transcribe it, but I lately been wanting to do it and promised myself to do it within the next month. I will contact my contacts at ITV and try and get some updates about Year 2. The interview and any additions will be published at the SPACE:1999 Catacombs site.
~ Ole

 

[Alstrup]

Ole Alstrup here from ITC-DVD at Yahoo Forums. I just received an email update about new postings in this thread.
Back in April of this year I did an hour long audio interview with the Director of Operations at ITV Studios Global Entertainment and the chief restoration archivist of ITV Studios Film Services, who oversaw the original film inspection and elements research and restoration of both SPACE:1999 Year 1 & 2. The interview was about the background and details about the FILM aspect restoration of SPACE:1999.
Actually I had wanted to do this interview for years, and had prepared most of the questions back in 2005, but my contact somehow wasnt able to facilitate the connection with them back then.
Because of the Year 1 Blu-ray releases, I decided to contact them directly and they liked the material I had prepared, so they granted this exclusive interview. I had to wait for some months to get it, due to their busy schedules. A lot of interesting info came up, also about Year 2.
Due to a tragedy in my immediate family which happened shortly after, I did not transcribe it, but I lately been wanting to do it and promised myself to do it within the next month. I will contact my contacts at ITV and try and get some updates about Year 2. The interview and any additions will be published at the SPACE:1999 Catacombs site.
~ Ole

 

[Kevin L McCorry]

But surely any news regarding this subject will always be bad news. I'm not going to bother reading anything more about the subject because what we've got now is all we're ever going to get. And goodness knows I have enough going on in the real world to be ticked off about. They're getting yellow rain in Vancouver this morning, people. I hate to invoke the "We're all Fukushima-ed" refrain again, but there you go.

 

[MBrousseau]

Thank you very much, Ole, for your interesting positive input. Hope you'll get encouraging news about season 2 on blu-ray for us.

 

[SWFF]

Bill Hunt just posted this on DIGITAL BITS:

A number of you have asked us recently about the status of A&E and Network's planned Blu-ray release of Space: 1999 - Season Two. It was originally hoped that the title would be released in 2011, but that window has come and gone with no official word. Well... we asked our friends involved at A&E for an official update, and they were kind enough to oblige. So here it is...

"While we remain hopeful that we can release Season 2 of Space 1999 on Blu-ray, the significant restoration and production efforts involved are causing the project to take longer than we, and the fans, would want. We feel that it is essential that the quality of Season 2 measures up in every way to Season 1 and we are not going to release a product that does not accomplish that."

So essentially, they're working hard on it and it's currently still planned for release... eventually. We suspect you'll hear more in the new year, and with any luck it will be available on Blu-ray by the end of 2012. Meanwhile, just know that they're working on it and, with luck, good things come to those who wait. Hope that clarifies it.

 

[Nelson Au]

Doesn't get better then that! Thanks for the update.
Now if only Thunderbirds would be released on Blu Ray too!

 

[MBrousseau]

I think it's a marvelous news! They wouldn't try that hard if it wasn't worth it, right? So fans of season 2, make yourself heard!
And by the way, sales would be even better if the editor would add foreign language tracks like French, Spanish, Italian... on the discs. Here in the french part of Canada, many adores Space 1999 and they used to watch it in dubbed french. People of my generation grew up with that show in french. They have the money to invest on a $90 blu-ray series. A&E should invest on that concept. At least, put some foreign subtitles... Just a suggestion.

 

[Kevin EK]

The one snag in there is that they say that they remain hopeful they can release it on Blu-ray. That's not quite the same thing as saying that they're hard at work on it.

If they're able to do this, I'm sure we'll hear about it next year at some point. If not, at least we have the SD DVDs.

 

[Kevin L McCorry]

Precisely. Which is why I don't believe there will ever be a release. From what they're saying, it's apparent that Granada/Network have snubbed the idea of a S2 release and A&E is trying (or so they say) to go it alone.
In any case, 2013 is tantamount to being never. The more I see what's happening in this world, the more I believe the 2012 doomsayers. Or at the very least, I expect my own health to have deteriorated by then (thanks, Fukushima fallout) to the point that BD/DVD purchases will no longer be enjoyable.

 

[JoshuaB.]

Sidestepping the curious negativity (I live in Vancouver and know nothing of this yellow rain), I'm glad that A&E has issued a statement about the possibility of a S2 BD set. If nothing ever comes to fruition, at least we have our S2 DVD sets and I can check out the Star Trek: TNG BD sets, as I haven't seen that show since I was a wee bairn.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey, I live in California! I hope the radioactive fall-out coming over here has been diluted to the point of naturally occurring radiation.
Or I'll go koo-koo like the Eagle pilots did in Break Away.
Seriously, I am optimistic S2 could still come.
It will be interesting when the TNG BD season sets come out. They should look great!

 

[Kevin L McCorry]

Radioactive particles don't break down in the environment. They decay on a set half-life, whether that half-life be 8 days (Iodine-131), 30 years (Cesium-137 and Strontium-90), or tens of thousands of years (Plutonium-239). If the jet stream is bringing them here, as I believe it is, and rainfall brings them to Earth to be breathed in or eaten, the only way they diminish is if they gather in people's bodies, or the bodies of animals. ... They were saying people in Seattle breathed in 5 hot particles a day back last spring (and the Fukushima disaster has been continuing on unabated since then). Online Cs-137 dispersion models for the northern hemisphere are terrifying. And it seems that the midwest and the eastern portions of North America are being hit harder than California due to "rainouts". Plus, they're finding Arctic seals in Alaska with hair loss and skin lesions (and of course every explanation imaginable is being mooted for that except radiation sickness). I just find it impossible to believe it's all fizzling out before it crosses the Pacific- or that the radionucleides amassed in the Pacific will not enter the water cycle in North and South America.
I wish we could all just sit tight and comfortably wait for that elusive complete BD set of Space: 1999 in 2013 or whenever. But. ... It looks like we humans are rapidly fouling our own habitat. And 2012, that year of doom that some have prognosticated, is fast approaching. From the disasters that have befallen us so far this century, I wouldn't rule out some extinction-causing event in '12, as if Fuku isn't already capable of being just that.
But that'll be my last post on this doom and gloom. All we can do now is wait and see.

 

[GhibliFan]

Doesn't get better then that! Thanks for the update.
Now if only Thunderbirds would be released on Blu Ray too!

It could get a whole lot "better than that" for me. If I read the situation clearly, A&E are working on it while Network are not. That could mean a North America only release. A&E's set of season 1 was region locked to Region A. Not so much a concern beyond the fact your set was a little cheaper at the time I wanted to order a set, as we have the wonderful Network set, but if they're stupid enough to region lock the season 2 set, that is seriously bad news for me and many others. And stupid is not a strong word, as this applies to the draconian practice of region locking... period. There are some studios, HUGE names in the business, that have totally abandoned the practice. e.g. all the US Star Trek blu-rays, both the original series and all the movies for TOS and TNG are region free discs. Same for Stargate Atlantis, same for Farscape (also brought to the HD format by A&E). So what in merry hell are A&E playing at by region locking their Space 1999 discs?
If any of my fellow fans are in further correspondence with A&E, a word in thier proverbial ear on behalf of we Brits wouldn't go amiss.
Kevin, I bet you're the life and soul of a party, mate. You do realise what being negative can do, especially as regards your own health? You can quite easily talk yourself into being unwell. I have a friend who is only 52 and she just got word recently that her breast cancer has spread to her lymph nodes and other places. She's accepted a second round of chemo even though she basically has a death sentence, and all further treatment is in the vain hope it will give her just a little more time. The other day she was finishing the decorating in her house. She's a miracle of the human spirit. I hope you feel suitably ashamed of your needless griping and moaning. Sorry to be blunt, mate, but talk like yours annoys the hell out of me.

 

[Kevin L McCorry]

And what's going on in the world today scares the hell out of me. I'm very sorry for what your friend is going through. But I don't feel ashamed for expressing my alarm and concerns for personal health and for that of our species and planet (griping and moaning are pejorative descriptions). I wish I didn't have any need to do it.
And as regards second season Space: 1999 BDs, I still doubt there will be a release, Region A or B. And at this juncture, I no longer care.
Oh, and I rarely go to parties. Being life and soul of one hasn't been a goal in my life.

 

[younger1968]

i have dvd set and i wish they could have re-mastered the show. I remember watching the show as a kid and love it. I think it was S2 when two members were added, like Tony.

 

[Kevin L McCorry]

Surprise, surprise.
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=356419
Why would the person on the phone from A&E say something that wasn't true? I'd say that Bill Hunt's sources aren't as recent. The fact that a search for Space: 1999 comes up empty at A&E Shop lends a great deal of credence to the initial post. Sales of the Season 1 BD set have indeed been pulled.

 

[TravisR]

Surprise, surprise.
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=356419
Why would the person on the phone from A&E say something that wasn't true? I'd say that Bill Hunt's sources aren't as recent.

Maybe you're right but Bill Hunt says that he is repsonding and refuting the exact rumors that you're citing. Beyond that, why would anyone trust what some person answering the phone at A&E over the guy who undeniably has real contacts at these companies? If I had to pick one source that I thought knew more, it sure wouldn't be the customer service lady.

 

[Kevin L McCorry]

But the customer service lady may be closer to the management offices.
At A&E Shop, Gerry Anderson titles are either gone or are being sold at discount prices (i.e. UFO and Terrahawks). If the BD set sold as poorly as reported, why would A&E go to the time, effort, and expense to remaster S2, entirely on their own?
But to get back to the personal attack leveled at me a few posts up. If I am a sourpuss, it's the fans of this show (and others) who contribute to that. Like that guy in the hobbytalk thread who makes a snide remark about S2 and posts a tongue sticking out. This and current world events too, of course. Which I'll sidestep further commenting on.